Simple Gifts
by Draconic Caduceus
Summary: When she first met him, she was skeptical. A rookie fresh out of the academy with the least rookieish attitude she's ever seen in all her ten years of service was now her partner. Wunderbar. Story of how Prowl & Jordan met. Maybe some romance later on.
1. Jordan, meet Prowl Y'all get along, now

**ARGH!! I do apologize for the long wait. Soccer and school have been eating my brain, and to make things worse, the power source in my hard drive failed and the computer where I had the original story 'Simple Gifts' isn't working, so I'm stuck on my grandmother's computer when she's not online playing games on Pogo. End random little rant. Jus' a lil' grumpy, is all. ((rolls eyes))**

**I don't own Transformers or Prowl. Just Jordan and most of the other characters in this lil' story. :)**

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When she first met him, she was skeptical. A rookie fresh out of the academy with the least rookie-ish attitude she's ever seen in all her twenty-odd years of service was now her partner.

He wasn't particularly handsome, just as she wasn't particularly beautiful: both hardly smiled, and the serious face they kept up marred their unique features. Because of this, they made a good team, though they would scarcely mention it to anyone, much less each other. With their cold, calculating stares, tendencies to frown more than smile, and practical way of doing things, one would think they were related, if blood relations were determined by attitude. However, it was obvious to even the most oblivious that they weren't related at all.

He was fair-skinned with crisp hair more brown than sandy. His eyes were an icy blue that could scare even the toughest veterans when he was cross. He stood taller than her at six-foot three, though he looked right for being that tall; he wasn't lanky or scrawny, instead strong and able to avoid being tripped in the field without being over-muscular.

Her skin was slightly darker than his, with honey-brown eyes that looked awkward on her face when she was angry; one would expect a stormy-gray instead of the warm brown she was born with. She was shorter than her rookie partner, barely topping 5' 9" with a strong, stocky build.

'_It was odd, how they met. Even more amazing, when he saved her life.' _their captain thought, propping his feet on his desk and tapping his pen against his lips as he watched the two interact. _'All of a sudden they're wonderful partners and work better than anyone else. I wonder why.'_ "Prowl, Jordan?" when he called their names, they looked over at him almost in unison. It was rather unnerving, but he was used to it. Almost. "You're off-duty right now," he reminded them almost paternally. There came that spark he knew would light up in Jordan's defiant eyes. "Go home or else."

The spark glowed brighter in her eyes and her shoulders drew back into her most defiant arguing pose. But Prowl looked down slightly at her and placed a fair hand on her shoulder. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear, causing her to turn her head and look at him. She blinked once then twice after he stopped talking and opened her mouth to argue, the spark slowly dying in her eyes. Prowl whispered again, and her mouth closed. Nodding, she went to the desk they shared and gathered their stuff together.

Prowl gave him a smug look and walked over as his captain shook his head in amusement. "You'll have to teach me that someday."

Prowl gave one of his rare smiles and chucked softly. "I _could_, but I don't recommend using it on her, though, Captain. Only if you could, ah, see eye-to-eye, so to speak, with her, will it work."

The captain's lips twitched in amusement. "Sometime you'll have to tell me what happened there." he called after the younger officer. Prowl merely turned and gave a secretive smile - unusual that smiling twice in the space of a few minutes was for him - and continued out, taking his things from Jordan and walking with her out the door. Shaking his head, the captain got back to work.

-

Jordan leaned against the door, just barely pretending to drive. The sun that drifted in through the windows warmed her more than was comfortable for her in her long-sleeved uniform and made her drowsy. Gently, the car drifted and parked in front of her small house. A gentle twitch of the seatbelt reminded her that if she really wanted to sleep, the bed was inside, _not_ _the car_.

Snorting, she thumped the dashboard gently but unclipped the seatbelt and slid out. She swayed slightly, and a gentle hand caught her. A strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, and another slipped behind her knees, scooping her up. Jordan didn't have the energy to protest, but snuggled into the cool chest of her partner. Unlike her, he wasn't bound to his uniform, and had changed to jeans and a T-shirt, a much more comfortable feel against her cheek than crisp uniform and cold, hard badges.

She barely noticed when Prowl fumbled in her pocket for her keys and unlocked the door, carrying her inside and locking it behind him. He made his way carefully to the bedroom and plopped her down on the bed, careful to make sure she didn't fall asleep yet. "Come on, Jordan. You have to get changed or you'll mess your uniform and be uncomfortable."

Lethargically she mumbled something incoherent (Prowl suspected it was a grumble, but wasn't sure) and began to unbutton her shirt as he averted his eyes politely. In moments, she was in a comfortable pair of clothes and collapsed backwards on the bed. Standing, Prowl closed the curtains and windows to keep the sun from hitting her eyes and lay down next to her. Jordan murmured and curled up in a ball over the sheets, falling asleep in seconds. Giving yet another of his rare smiles (an even rarer one he showed only in her presence) he reached out and brushed a hand over her cheek before disappearing to get his own rest.

-

She could still remember the day they met: it was exactly two weeks before her birthday. She had come into the station angry at her soon-to-be-former partner when she first bumped (unintentionally) into him. Scowling, she pushed past him to stalk into her captain's office, ignoring the mildly curious look he sent her and the startled stares of the others in her way. Her timid partner trailed behind her, offering profuse apologies along the way, meekly following his angry partner into the office.

A moment later, shouting erupted and the meek officer came racing out, face pale and sweating. "Another victim," a veteran officer muttered. "I swear, we lose more officers to Jordan than twice the amount of everything combined."

Another veteran snorted nearby as the shouting continued. "Maybe not that much, but a whole lot more."

"Who is Jordan?" a brave rookie in the group asked, and the first veteran gave a derisive laugh.

"The feminized devil," he muttered, sipping his coffee. It was way too early for him to be working with rookies, but he was saddled with it and he'd end up doing his job or risk having Jordan attack him. "She usually takes the night shift and works her ass off. Also the scariest female you'd ever meet, so watch yourselves around her."

"Why is she so bad?" the tallest of the lot asked mildly. "Perhaps she's just tired."

A _look_ from the second senior officer silenced the first's acidic reply. "If she gets tired, it's impossible to tell. Adrian," he called, raising his voice to be heard over the bustle of the station. A pale, slender officer trotted over, wincing as he neared the office. "Didn't you have Jordan as a partner once?"

Adrian shuddered. "Worst experience of my life."

"Care to elaborate?" the second officer asked kindly.

"She's worse than your worst nightmares." Adrian said dryly. "Drives you hard to your breaking point and expects you to know all sorts of things. And everything has to be _just so_."

"So she's OCD, then?" the tall rookie asked, and Adrian shrugged.

"I don't know, and I really don't care anymore." he grumbled.

"So why didn't she want you as a partner?" the rookie asked in mild curiosity.

Adrian snorted. "Well, with me, I missed a perp. when we were resolving a brawl and he got her hard on the shoulder with a beer bottle. I was holding off a guy with a knife and a guy with a broken bottle," he added defensively when the tall rookie looked at him curiously. "I also got in the way of her swing and earned a bruised collarbone," as if remembering the pain, he rubbed his cheek. "All the way back she was yellin' at me about how stupid I was. Once we got back, the first thing she did was go to the captain's office and tell him to find her a new partner."

"Perhaps she was worried," the rookie suggested in his usual mild tone.

"Nah, Jordan doesn't have any emotions, much less the ability to be worried." Adrian mumbled, walking off.

Anything the rookie could or was about to say in response to that was interrupted as the door opened and the shouting increased in volume without the door to muffle it. "..._said_ I _don't want another partner_! Sign me up for the solo bike patrols or something, 'cause I _ain't_ takin' another!" Jordan roared, stalking out of the office after her captain who was shaking his head.

"I don't care, Jordan." he said tiredly in the small break she took to take a deep breath and continue arguing. "The solo-bike officers have more than enough people, thanks to you scaring everyone away. We have a new shipment of rookies straight from the academy, and I'll tell you what: you can have first pick of all of them and take as long as you need to determine your new partner."

Honey-brown eyes that looked so awkward on such an angry face swept over the rookies, most of which shrank back at the potent glare. "They all look like idiots." without waiting for a reply - if anyone dared to make one - she swept through, walking and inspecting each one critically. She poked a few in the shoulder and shook her head. At last she came to the tall one she had bumped into before and looked up at him critically. She poked his shoulder hard and pointed toward the captain. Obediently (albeit with a raised eyebrow) he walked over and stood beside the commanding officer who blinked up at him in surprise. Jordan stalked between the other rookies and stalked back to her captain. "He looks promising." was all she said, jerking her head at the tall rookie.

"Your terms?" the captain asked with a father's patience.

"Five days. He has five days to prove himself to me. Once I've been around with him and he has finished his probation, I'll make a decision." Jordan grumbled. "Is that acceptable?"

"Yes," the captain said, eyeing her with a critical blue eye. "You should get some rest, Jordan. You can work out his trials tomorrow."

Jordan nodded absently, looking critically at the tall rookie. "Well? What's your name, O new victim of mine?" she asked sarcastically, glaring at the two older officers on the side who didn't meet her eyes.

"Prowl." If she was surprised at the strange name as everyone else was (or had been), she didn't show it, merely nodding.

"Come back here tomorrow three hours before our shift starts; Cap'n should tell you when it starts and when to be here by. I'll see you then." turning on her heel, she left the station.

-

The captain, after giving a quick tour, bade him go home and get some rest or he wouldn't survive the night. Literally.

However, he didn't require much sleep, and he had a day and a half's worth of energy in him before he would feel even the barest urges of exhaustion. So for once in his life, he let his curiosity get the better of him, and dogged Jordan discreetly. She drove down busy streets, head bobbing once in a while. At last she turned off the main road and headed down a deserted road to a small house at the outskirts of the town.

It was simple and plain without anything immediately noticeable. The lawn was unkept, leaves and tufts of long grass and weeds popping up here and there. The little garden around the tree in the yard was bare dirt, its former inhabitants slumped over in strands of brown and amber.

Tiredly, Jordan climbed out of her car and stumbled toward the house, rummaging in her bag and muttering to herself. She didn't appear to notice the squad car idling quietly near her parked car staggering into the house and slamming the door shut.

Prowl remained there for a little while, scanning the house and its sole inhabitant. There were no pets or children or spouse to greet Jordan, nor any family at all. Just her, all alone. He remained there for a while, thinking as he "felt" his probationary partner fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillows. At last, he backed down the way he came and drove back to the station to wait and rest.

-

When he walked into the station, he found Jordan at what he assumed was her desk, head buried in her hands and a still-steaming cup of coffee next to her elbow. She appeared to be sleeping, but when he approached, she looked up and gave a weary sigh. Muttering something about stupid step-mothers she stood and drained her coffee, ignoring the obvious burning as it went down her throat.

"Let's go, Prowl." she drawled tiredly, letting her cup drop into the trash can on her way to the captain's office.

A moment later she shuffled out and into the parking lot. For a long moment, Jordan just sat in the driver's seat, resting her head against the headrest. "Prowl, I'm going to do something that I've never done before. I'm going to be rough on you, but I'm gonna try to not scare you away."

Prowl said nothing for a long moment. "May I ask you a question?"

"You already did." she said dryly. "Shoot."

He hesitated. "Why do you go so hard on your partners? I heard a lot about how you're OCD -"

"Neurotic, actually." Jordan corrected. "Not quite OCD."

Prowl nodded. "About how you're neurotic," he amended. "And how you push people hard and expect them to live up to very high standards. I'm just curious." he added when Jordan gave him a strange look.

Jordan leaned back against the seat and thought, her right hand reaching up to rub her left shoulder as if it ached. "I am neurotic, but I try not to let it affect me while working. I only push my partners hard because I don't want them to die." she said at last, turning to look at Prowl. "I'm going to tell you something not many people know about me. The first partner I had was when I was a rookie like you. He was one of the best in the station. He was promoted to captain after my third year with him (and in the force), so I had to pick a new partner while he assigned my patrols." Jordan turned away, not noticing or ignoring the mildly surprised and rapt look she was earning from Prowl. "I chose the most promising candidate of the lot and we went off. Not one month into our partnership, he was killed." she finished bitterly, and Prowl realized that knowing what little he did about her, she was likely beating herself up about it, reliving that horrifying moment whenever she saw new rookies walking in the doors.

She was quiet for a long moment, and Prowl hesitated. "What happened to him?"

For a while she said nothing, not even acknowledging that she even heard him. "His name was John Martin. I used to tease him all the time about how _stupid_ and _boring _his name sounded." she said as if she was in a trance. "He was the best of the lot, and I could see his potential, but he was so stupid. He never paid any attention to whatever I taught him, and I figured he'd be okay, but he was inexperienced in the night shift and didn't know what to look for. We had gotten a call from a bar nearby; there were a bunch of brawlers and drunks that just wouldn't leave. He was confident in his skills so I trusted him and we went in with our batons out. He got knocked over the head within ten minutes and I was left alone for a while before I realized that I couldn't see him. I knocked a few heads together and the drunkards and brawlers left and I saw Martin. Whoever hit him got 'im good and hard. Snapped his spinal cord and shattered his skull. The ME said there was hemorrhaging in the brain and severe blunt force trauma, and that he died instantly." she laughed bitterly. "My partner died, and all I got was a guilty conscience, heavy heart, dislocated shoulder and cracked ribs. Life's a bitch, ain't it?"

Prowl said nothing for a long while, watching Jordan out of the corner of his icy blue eyes. "I understand." he said at last. Jordan didn't acknowledge him. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you." she said at long last. "I figured you're smart." she added with a slight curve of her lips in what could barely pass as a smile. "Now let's get to work."

Understanding more of the female officer at his side than many others would had they been in his place, Prowl threw himself into their work. Part of it was selfishness; he wanted a good, experienced partner who he could live with working beside, and found one in Jordan. The majority of it was understanding and sympathy. After all, didn't he know just how she felt?

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**((Sigh)) Likely off to get a nice little bath then maybe come back and work on the next chapter. :) Hope ya like it so far. I worked on it for a few days. **


	2. Worst Nightmare

**Happy belated Thanksgiving!! I would've posted this yesterday, but I was busy. :(**

**Hmm... Jordan acts pretty weird in this chapter...**

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It was one of her worst nightmares, he knew, and he could see it in her eyes when she received the call. It was a bar brawl, eerily resembling the one that had killed Martin. Prowl saw the fear and hesitation flicker across Jordan's face, a trick he had picked up on rather quickly. Her hand hovered undecidedly above the switch to turn on the lights and sent them speeding on the way. The dispatcher was waiting impatiently on the other end for her reply.

"I'm not Martin, Jordan," Prowl said quietly so the dispatcher couldn't hear. "You've said so yourself that I can hold me own in a brawl better than anyone else you had."

Honey-brown eyes alight with indecision flicked to him, meeting his icy ones steadily. Her mouth formed a thin line and she turned back to the radio, flicking on the lights and siren in the process. "We're on our way." she said shortly. Casting one last look at her probationary partner, she sped down the street to where the call came from. There, she vaulted easily out and pulled out her baton, racing inside with him at her heels.

There were about fifteen brawlers armed with switchblades, broken and intact bottles, crude clubs of barstool and table legs, corkscrews, and whatever else they could get their drunken mitts on. Baton out, Jordan smashed into them, tripping them and hollering at them to stop. Taking his lead from her, Prowl did the same, knocking heads together and dodging blows that came his way. Within moments he found himself back-to-back with Jordan, beating back the brawlers who had decided to unite against them instead of fighting each other. Mechanically he fought back, knocking drunkards to their knees and out of the fight and moving on as they continued to come. Behind him, Jordan cried out and fell to her knees, slamming out with her baton as she fell, hitting her assailant in the knees and sending him down beside her.

Worriedly, he scanned her as his holo-form continued to fight. Her left shoulder was dislocated, and there was a large gash near the joint of her shoulder, and along her left thigh. Judging by the way she had crumpled to the ground, she was unable to stand and rejoin the fight. However, she did lash out in all directions, sending brawlers tumbling to the floor to pass out when their heads hit the deck.

Had his body been real, he supposed he'd be on a sort of high from the adrenaline rush, or "battle fever" as humans called it. Even sitting she swayed unsteadily, and Prowl knelt beside her, tugging at the rip in her pants to look at the wound. It bled sluggishly and what little he knew about human medicine told him that it'd need stitches. The dislocated shoulder could prove troublesome, and had the second gash not been there, Prowl would've relocated it in a heartbeat. As it was, the gash would need stitching as well, and some stitching of the muscle; he could see the pale ivory of her bone even in the dim light of the bar.

"I called an ambulance," the bartender said anxiously, wringing his hands nearby. He handed Prowl some towels and gauze pads, watching worriedly as Prowl began to stop the bleeding in her leg. "Will she be okay?"

Prowl grunted as eyes half-closed, Jordan leaned against him. "Yeah, I think she'll be fine once she gets some medical attention." he said. "Her cuts will need stitching and her shoulder is dislocated, but I think she's doing okay."

"That's good. I'm so sorry, what happened." the bartender blurted out, and Prowl turned to look at him mildly, silencing the tirade of apologies.

He turned when he felt the presence of another behind him, and found an EMS behind him as well as a veteran officer who surveyed the scene. "Go get some rest, or follow her to the hospital," he told the rookie quietly. "We'll take it from here; we'll only need you to write up a report or testify. Take some time off, too, while you're at it."

Thanking his supervisor, he followed Jordan's ambulance doggedly and parked himself in the parking lot.

-

Honey-brown eyes opened, blinking lethargically until her pupils were dilated enough to adjust to the bright fluorescent lights overhead. Nose twitching, she immediately figured out that she was in the hospital. Eyes flicked to the right, then to the left, taking note of her surroundings. She had a room to herself, and the bedside table was decorated with a small bouquet of flowers. Something different than creamy white walls caught her eye, and she spotted her partner, sitting in a chair, chin to his chest, asleep.

She blinked as before her eyes he flickered like a bad television picture, fading in and out of view and opacity. Slight smile curving her lips, she fell back asleep.

-

Honey-brown eyes opened once more, and when they did, they immediately shut. "Oh, she's awake!" a too-sweet voice crooned near her head. "Hello, Jordan! How are you feeling?"

"Worse, thanks to you," Jordan grumbled, rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly. She winced when a stiff muscle complained, and flexed her hand to relieve the pressure slightly. She opened her eyes, and grimaced at the sight of pink balloons hovering around the room, and the ostentatiously large bouquets of bright roses scattered in lacy ferns or spotted white baby's breath. In the shadows of a corner of her room nearby she caught a glimpse of Prowl. He sat in one of the most relaxed positions she'd ever seen him, arms crossed and a brownish eyebrow raised as he watched. As usual, his face was blank and emotionless, but she thought she saw a tiny spark of amusement in those icy eyes.

"We've been so worried about you," ignoring her protests, the other woman in the room hugged her, obviously not aware the extent of her injuries, for she slapped her back near her previously dislocated shoulder, and squeezed her tightly. "Don't do that to us again, sweetie."

"Sara, you're hurting me." Jordan hissed between clenched teeth, and the woman dropped her quickly. Prowl's icy eyes flicked to Jordan worriedly, and he tensed slightly but remained in his corner.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear," Prowl was positive he saw Jordan's eye twitch at that. "Your father and I were just so worried."

Blue eyes flicked to the older man in the room who stood with his arms crossed, stormy gray eyes hard as granite. He grunted when the woman looked at him for confirmation, but said nothing, seemingly content to glare at Jordan who glared right back, rosy flares of indignation crossing her cheeks.

"Stupid," he growled, and Jordan's fist tightened in the sheets. "I thought you knew better, but obviously you didn't!"

"We were outnumbered seven or eight to one and everyone was armed. It's a miracle we got out alive," she snapped back.

"Jerald, Jordan, please don't fight," Sara pleaded, tugging first on the older man's sleeve, than Jordan's hospital gown.

"I thought I taught you to go in without backup." the man rumbled over Sara's plea.

"I had Prowl with me, and backup was coming in two minutes." Jordan snapped back. "We held our own for longer than that."

"Where was your so-called backup, then, eh? Why'd you end up in the hospital?" Jerald's voice was rising with each word, and Jordan began to match it.

"No one is perfect, Da! Not even you, you egotistical maniac." A nurse poked her head in the room. "Get out of here!" Jordan growled, pointing at the door with a shaking finger.

"Some thanks I get for visiting my only daughter in the hospital." Jerald rumbled, standing straight with his fists at his sides, great muscles in his arms rippling as he tensed his fists and arms.

Jordan growled. "I didn't _ask_ for you to come and bring all this crap." Here Sara winced as Jordan gesticulated sharply at the masses of pink around the room. "Why don't you just leave and be done with it?"

Without a word, Jerald whirled round and stalked out of the room, ignoring the quailing nurse near the door. Teary-eyed, Sara trotted out after Jerald and Jordan lay back down on the bed, closing her eyes tiredly. Nodding politely to the nurse, Prowl stood and walked silently to Jordan's bedside, sitting in the vacant seat there. For a while, neither said anything to the other, content to sit in silence for a long while.

At last, Jordan sighed. "Have any irritating family members?" she asked her partner tiredly.

Prowl shrugged. "There were these twins once, that continuously played pranks on me," he admitted. "My friends are the only family I have."

"I see," the woman said, closing her eyes. "You aren't missing much." She sighed tiredly.

"Get some rest, Jordan," Prowl told her quietly, placing a gentle hand on her wrist. Jordan muttered something under her breath but obeyed, falling asleep quickly. Watching his partner sleep, Prowl leaned back in his chair and thought. Jordan, as he had learned that first day, was unique. She seemed to have a sense for certain things, such as where, when, and how to strike an opponent, what they were going to do in retaliation, and how to avoid the returning blow and get another whiplash strike in return. However, unlike him, it seemed mostly instinctual with little thinking; there was a mechanical way she moved about when she fought, and her eyes were always hard and sharp as if they were orbs cut from hard amber, glittering and cold and emotionless.

Accessing his computer from the hospital room, he pulled up a search of Jerald Kleinhemn, father of Jordan Kleinhemn.

'_Jerald Kleinhemn, DOB: 5/15/1952, age: 55. Retired from the California Police Department at the age of forty. Has three sons (Jacob, Joseph, and Joel), and one daughter (Jordan). His wife and mother of his four kids, Lyra Aanhangsel, was murdered when their youngest daughter, Jordan, was fifteen.' _Prowl frowned and inquired further. _'Lyra had taken Jordan out shopping for school supplies. A boy from her school apparently had a grudge against her - no one knows why - and attempted to run her over. Lyra got in the way and was killed instead. The boy fled but was later caught. Jerald never forgave Jordan, and things between them became worse.'_

'"_Became worse?" Were they bad to begin with?'_ Digging through the files he found on her and her family, he searched for his answer.

"Whatever you're doing, you'd better stop." Jordan's quiet voice woke him from his trance. Caught unawares, he looked at her to find her staring at him. The obnoxiously fuzzy teddy bear was on the floor across the room, as was a few other stuffed animals Sara had brought for the female officer. "That's twice - no, three times - I've had to cover for ya. If yer gonna keep doing what yer doin', I may as well throw a sheet over you and tell the next nurse that comes in that we're playing hide-and-go-seek and that I've finally lost all me marbles an' they should send me to th' insane asylum where Ah belong."

'_Another strange thing about Jordan: she has a tendency to switch accents without noticing.' _Prowl noted wryly. "What have I been doing?" he asked aloud.

Jordan snorted. "Flickerin'. Like you weren't even here." Prowl stiffened slightly at that. "Oh, don't go all batty on me. I ain't tellin' no one. 'Sides. I always choose the freaks for partners." Wearily, she sank back into the pillows. Prowl knew her well enough by now to not take insult from that. That being said, Jordan drifted off back to sleep, and Prowl wasn't sure if she had gave that small speech in a tired stupor or if she was wide awake. Both proved troublesome, so Prowl disappeared and kept his scanners trained on his partner, trying to figure out what to do.

-

Jordan looked up and jumped slightly as Prowl appeared at her bedside, nearly dropping her book. "Sorry," he said, and Jordan snorted in amusement.

"So, Ghost-Boy. What can I do for you?" she asked, dog-earing a page and placing the book on the side to give her partner her full attention.

Prowl frowned. "I am not a ghost."

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Well, to me you are, 'cause I don't know what the hell you actually are," she pointed out.

"How many times have I flickered?" Prowl asked in his blunt way.

Jordan shrugged then winced as her injured shoulder pulled. "I dunno, maybe three, four, five times? Hard to tell when I'm sleeping so much 'cause of the damn morphine they're giving me."

"How is your wound?" the "ghost" asked, and Jordan rolled her eyes.

"Fine and dandy," she grumbled, pulling on the collar of her gown so he could see the stitches in her shoulder. "My leg hurts sometimes, but my shoulder hurts more." Honey-brown eyes stared right into his icy blue ones, probing and curious but restrained. At last she looked away to survey the room and the obnoxiously bright flowers. She wrinkled her nose and reached for the simple bouquet dominating her bed-side table. Gently, she ran her fingers over the glossy white petals of the lilies in the vase. "Lilies were my mom's favorite flower. My dad used to get us both a big bunch of lilies for our birthdays, but after she died, he couldn't bear to look at them, or me. My brothers weren't helping much, either." she saw the half-guilty look on Prowl's face and snorted. "Oh, don't mind me. Just the deranged ranting of an injured policewoman. You don't even have to listen to me." frowning, she peered closer at Prowl. "On that note, you don't even have to be here, much less stay as long as you have." That was Jordan-speak for 'why are you here, anyway?'

Prowl side-stepped the question and asked one of his own. "So that was your father?"

Jordan wrinkled her nose again. "Yeah, that was Da. As you can tell, we don't get along very well."

"Why not?" Prowl asked before he could stop himself.

Honey-brown eyes closed, remembering an old pain. "I was the only girl in the lot," she said bitterly. "When Mom and Da married, they wanted to have four kids and no more: Da wanted all boys, and Mom wanted at least one girl. Mom got her wish, obviously. Da was horrified, so Mom gave me a co-ed name so it would ease the pain of having a daughter for him. Of course, it near broke her heart to do so. All Mom really wanted to do was make Da happy, but sometimes it never worked out, ya know? Da wanted a fourth boy, someone who could follow in his footsteps; Jacob's a doctor, Joseph's in the Marines, and Joel's a mechanic. Da wanted his fourth son to be the pride of the family; the best police officer there ever was, rivaling himself." Jordan scoffed at that. "Obviously, it didn't turn out that way."

"So your father didn't like you because you were a _girl_?" Prowl found himself asking incredulously.

Jordan snorted. "Pretty stupid, eh? Well, to his credit, it wasn't only that. Mom was killed when I was fifteen by my classmate. He -" here she paused, dredging up painful memories from the depths of her mind and heart. "I tried to help him with class work without giving him the answers, but something happened one day. Jokes between us stopped becoming funny, and his eyes became hard. One day he threw his compass at me in drafting class, then his triangles before being sent to the office. The next day, he wasn't in school. I went with my mother to get some more equipment for my classes after school that same day. When we walked out, he jumped and... Mom and I looked so alike, and he hit the wrong one. Mom went down hard and didn't get up. The boy didn't realize that he hadn't gotten me until he was arrested. Da never forgave me for it."

"It wasn't your fault," Prowl said, not noticing or ignoring the tiny droplets of water threatening to spill from her guarded eyes.

"Try telling that to Da," Jordan said bitterly. "What's worse is that he's convinced the others that it was my fault, so they don't talk to me much."

Prowl hesitated. After all, he was in forbidden territory - engaging in the taboo conversation - at the moment, and if he overstepped his boundaries, Jordan would kill him. Or attempt to, anyway. "Is he why you joined the force?"

Jordan looked down at her hands. "Not really. In high school I wanted to be an engineer so I studied and studied. I had to take something to him before I left to college so I went to the station. His shift wasn't over yet, so I had to wait for a little while for him, but in that time, I fell in love with it. I went off to college and decided there that engineering wasn't for me, and came back home to become a police officer." Her eyes began drooping again, and in the bright fluorescent lights, Prowl noticed the bags beneath her eyes, testimony that she hadn't been sleeping much. "Da took it the wrong way. He seemed to think that I was trying to copy him to curry his favor. Our relations between each other became even worse." Her eyes fluttered and she yawned.

Prowl placed a cool hand on her wrist. "Get some rest. We can talk later."

Jordan murmured something incoherent and obeyed, honey-brown orbs dimming in fatigue then disappearing behind tan lids. Hesitantly, he reached out with a hand and smoothed it over her cheek before allowing himself to disappear.

-

A few days later, Jordan found herself being discharged from the hospital. Then came the daunting task of getting changed by herself (she insisted that the nurses be banished because God damn it she'll dress herself or die trying), then making her way from her room out to the parking lot and to Prowl. When Prowl came looking for her, he found her on the second floor (her room was on the third), a large bag slung over her uninjured shoulder, and a pair of nurses following hers, bearing the freakishly many flower arrangements from her room.

Seeing him, Jordan paused and fished in the bag a bit then pulled out the arrangement of lilies, handing them to him and ordering him to 'hold it a sec'. Gesturing at the two nurses, she entered the room beside her, returning with a bag that bulged less and missing a few flowers. In the next room she went, giving away whatever was in the bag, and a few bouquets in the process. Of course, how she managed to hobble down the hallways with the bag was beyond him, but he followed dutifully as they made their way out.

She paused, having gotten rid of her stuffed animals and bouquets then sat wearily down outside. When Prowl tried to urge her to stand, she merely gave him a weary look. Looking around to make sure no one was around, Prowl disappeared and dove over, reappearing as the door near the older officer was sitting. He found that in his few minutes' absence, she had leaned back languidly against the back of the bench, eyes half-closed.

With a patient sigh, he picked her up easily, causing her eyes to snap open and glare at him. "What are you doing?" she snapped, fatigue apparently gone. She crossed her arms and glared at Prowl, only to find that she was beginning to slip so with a yelp, she uncrossed her arms and wrapped one around Prowl's neck. Prowl chuckled at that and Jordan snorted, beginning to sulk.

"Has anyone ever seen you like this?" Prowl teased lightly, putting her gently in the passenger-side seat.

"Bite me." Jordan grumbled, buckling herself in and pulling out her cell phone. Punching speed dial number one, she held it to her ear as the phone rang.

"_Jordan?"_

"Hey, Cap'n. Howzit?"

The captain chuckled. _"Still high on morphine, I see. Damn addict."_

Jordan smiled. "Darn, ya caught me."

"_So, you morphine addict you, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"_

Jordan's eyes flicked to Prowl as he drove. "The Question." she said vaguely.

Even though he wasn't here, Jordan could tell that the Captain's eyebrows rose at that. _"On your partner? You've decided already?"_

"It _has _been five days, Cap'n." Jordan pointed out, feeling Prowl's icy eyes boring into her from the side.

He sighed_. "Okay. What's your answer?"_

Jordan's lips curled into a slight smile and smirked sidelong at Prowl. "Yes."


	3. I suppose I owe you an explanation

**Good God! I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. Finals week and the weeks leading up to it have been hell, and just recently I broke my nose, which hurts like hell. My computer got a virus and I didn't have time to go on the other one very often, as I had to study for finals. Luckily mom told me to save my files on to a flash drive which I used to upload all my stories into my new Christmas present - Minga, my laptop. :)**

**Enough of the crappy updates of my poor, pathetic life and on with the much-late update of the story! **

* * *

Jordan propped her fists on her hips and glared at her partner. He remained on the hood of the patrol car he "haunted", sulking. Since leaving the hospital, she had found out quickly that he could control the patrol car they used, and when she did something he didn't like, he could – and usually _did_ – stop her in some way. He also proved to be very stubborn, and they often – more than often, in fact – butted heads over it. This was no exception.

"For God's sake, Prowl. The car's unbelievably muddy, and I need to clean it. If you don't want to go to a carwash, I'll have to do it by hand."

"No," Prowl grumbled insistently. "I don't see why you _have_ to."

"It won't melt, Prowl," Jordan snapped. "And unless you give me a very good reason to not wash the car, I'm washing it whether you like it or not…or even with you on it!"

Prowl looked away with what could almost be called a blush. "It tickles," he mumbled.

"What?" Jordan asked. "Speak up!"

Prowl coughed. "It tickles," he said louder.

Jordan gave him an exasperated look. "It tickles?" she repeated, raising a brown eyebrow. Not meeting her eyes, Prowl nodded. "You don't want me to wash the car because it _tickles_?"

Prowl glared at her. "That's what I said, isn't it?" he grouched back, still sulking on the hood of the patrol car.

Jordan rolled her eyes and grabbed the hose. Before he could protest, she shot him right in the chest. Of course it went right through him – she found he could become solid or …not solid whenever he wanted to – to hit the windshield. Prowl shivered as if he was cold and the spray of water actually hit him. Icy eyes glared at her, and the "ghost" disappeared, reappearing sulkily behind her as she began to spray off the clumps of mud clinging determinedly to the sides and wheels of the black and white patrol car.

Occasionally during the wash Prowl would shiver but he said nothing, curling up and watching from Jordan's porch as she cleaned the car. "Aren't you going to say anything?" he called as she began to rinse the soap off the much cleaner black and white vehicle.

"About what?" Jordan asked, not looking at him.

"You know," Prowl grumbled, and Jordan looked over the hood at him, raising a brown eyebrow.

Jordan returned to cleaning the tires, and Prowl tried not to shiver. "No, not really," she said at last. "You'll tell me when you're ready." Prowl said nothing for a while as Jordan continued on. "You are different from my other partners, Prowl. I feel that I can trust you. Really trust you, I mean. I don't know if you feel that you can trust me, but regardless I am here for you if you will be there for me." she gave him a half-amused look from over the hood of the car. "Of course, if you spill the secrets I tell you to your little friends, I'll make y'all eunuchs."

Prowl gave her one of his rare smiles. He understood her perfectly. "Yes ma'am." He knew now that trust from her – especially after a mere two weeks spent with her – was a rare and powerful thing. "I'm going inside to change." Jordan nodded in reply and her partner went inside the small house.

She had found out a week before – just after she recovered from her injuries – that Prowl had been evicted by the owner of the "piece of shit pile of toddler-assembled horse-crap brick thing painted with monkey pee" (Jordan's words, not Prowl's) apartment. She had been on her way home when she saw him talking with the owner of the ramshackle apartment building, Prowl's bag of stuff at their feet. Had she been in a civilian uniform driving a civilian vehicle, Prowl suspected she'd have cuffed them both. As it was, she looked ready to knock their heads together. Once she understood what the conversation was about, Jordan glared at Prowl, picked up his bags, and dragged him to the car. Ten to fifteen minutes later, she dropped his stuff in an empty room down the hall from hers and announced that breakfast would be ready soon.

A minute later Prowl poked his head out from the window to peer down at the officer cleaning the car. He really didn't need to change, but he wanted to be out of her way. He started when he began to flicker. Jordan, seeing the flash of movement, turned to look at him, shielding her eyes from the glare of the setting sun.

"Something wrong?" she called up, pitching her voice to carry easily across the distance.

"Reserves are low," he called back.

Jordan was quiet while her brain processed that. "You need to rest?" Prowl nodded, flickering again. "Well, go sleep or something. I'm more than capable of finishing the car and going on patrol without you." there was a different way she said it that made Prowl curious and suspicious. Before he could protest, she flapped her hand at him. With a sigh, Prowl allowed himself to disappear and slip into stasis. Jordan _was_ more than capable of handling _one_ night shift alone…

-

"Where's Prowl?" the captain asked, noting her partner's absence.

"Resting. He got sick," Jordan lied. The captain, having spent three years with her before he got promoted, knew when she was lying, by said nothing now. He trusted her with his life and more.

"Very well, tell him that I said to rest and get better." Formalities done, they could get back to business and soon Jordan was on her way down the darkening streets.

-

Had Prowl been awake, or even remotely conscious, he would've warned her, but unfortunately he wasn't. Deep down inside he knew that it had been foolish of him to stay "awake" for so long, and now he was paying for it. It could not be helped, however, and Jordan was a good enough partner to be willing to cover for him.

Being that he wasn't awake, he didn't warn her, of course. And she walked right into a trap.

It started from a simple speeding ticket. She chased the man down and dutifully handed him his ticket before driving off. Then a dark truck began to follow her a discreet distance away, but Jordan had been an officer long enough to have something akin to Peter Parker's "spider sense". Every once in a while she'd check back in her re-view mirror to see how close he or she was, but the darkness did well to hide the truck and its occupants, so she couldn't tell who was following her.

She didn't see the other, larger truck until it rammed hard into her side, sending her head into the glass of the window next to her and the car spinning in dizzying circles before running into the ditch and rolling sideways to a stop. Jordan was suspended upside-down, hair hanging and brushing the ceiling with its fawny tips. Her left cheekbone and right eye and temple throbbed with pain and a trickle of blood trailed from a split lip downwards toward her nose.

The smoldering blackness and relief of pain edged ever closer and she closed her pretty honey-brown eyes and relaxed. _If this is death, by_ God just _take me already_. She thought wearily. As she drifted off, she felt the car shift, sending her swinging and her hair brush the top of the roof. Strange…nothing's broken here. No glass or anything…

That was her last thought for a while.

-

The first rays of sunlight beat down on his undercarriage, making him squirm uncomfortably…only to realize that he was upside down. Huh? The pain of a particularly large dent in his side "woke" him fully. Alarmed, he threw his scanners online and stretched them out as far as they could go – nothing, only a human car driving a few miles away.

That meant that… Jordan was in an accident! Throwing his scanners inward, he found nothing, only a few drops of blood on his ceiling. Transforming, he stretched, feeling fully recharged…and very angry.

Quickly, he scanned again to find the placement of his lost partner before transforming back into his police car mode and driving off.

They were going to _pay_.

-

It actually wasn't that hard to find them; after scanning specifically for Jordan while driving in a large circle, he tracked the kidnappers to their impromptu base of operations – an old abandoned warehouse in the middle of frakking nowhere. It was both stupid and smart – smart in the sense that no one would suspect or bother them out there, but stupid in the sense that Prowl could actually transform without being seen and rip the establishment to shreds once Jordan was out.

Silently – without his siren on – he crept toward the warehouse, using an infrared scanner to see who was inside. There were four males inside, each larger and heavier than Jordan was. The only female in the warehouse was slumped over in a corner, tied to a chair, her chin to her chest. She appeared to be unconscious he found when he ran a different scan on her. A slight concussion, split lip, black eye, and bruised cheekbone, but she seemed fine.

Transforming, he stretched out to his full height and flared his door-wings to look as intimidating as possible. Done, he sank his fingers into the rusting metal of the warehouse and yanked, tearing an enormous hole in it, large enough for him to walk comfortably through.

The four human males gaped openly at him, and one seemed ready to "shit in his pants", as Jordan would say. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but kidnapping is a crime." Prowl rumbled, pitching his voice an octave deeper than usual. "Mistreatment of a law enforcement officer is also a crime punishable by jailtime." Okay, maybe a little exaggeration there, but it did the trick. The faces of three of the four males' went pale whether at their crimes being uncovered or that a close-to-three-story-tall robot looking remarkably like a police cruiser reading them their crimes. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. Drop your weapons."

Two of the males pulled out their weapons and dropped them on the floor, kicking them aside. They backed into the wall, beads of sweat sliding down their faces edged in fear. The other two proved to be difficult, pulling out their weapons and pointing it at him. When they pulled the trigger, they found that the bullets didn't harm him in the least, but it proved dangerous for them for the bullets ricocheted off his black and white armor. After a small…scuffle (if it could even be called that) the men were bound, gagged, and tied to a lone tree outside.

Carefully, Prowl made his way to Jordan who remained slumped over. Switching on his holo-form, he touched her cheek, pulling back quickly when she jumped. Looking through the screen of her loose and tangled hair – apparently sometime during the night her braid had come undone – and found that the side he had touched her on was her blind side.

"Jordan?" he asked quietly, and her head snapped up to look at him as he knelt in front of her to untie her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Does feeling like my head is about to split open count as 'okay'?" she asked thickly through her swollen and cut lip.

"If you can still make jibes like that, you _must_ be okay," Prowl said, allowing a note of relief to enter his soft voice. In his other form he held perfectly still, not wanting to draw her attention to him.

Jordan made a non-committal sound, though her eye that wasn't swollen shut fluttered, squinted, then squeezed shut in pain. "What happened?" Prowl asked gently, and the solitary eye fixed on him.

"I stopped a speeder and gave him a ticket." Jordan said thickly. "Someone in a black truck started to follow me and I didn't notice the other one until it ran into the side of the car and sent me rolling into the ditch. After that, I don't know what happened."

"So that explains the dent in my side," Prowl murmured to himself, too soft for Jordan to hear. "I'm glad you're okay." He said louder as he moved to untie her hands.

Jordan smiled slightly. "I'm glad you're here," she murmured, eye fluttering. Prowl finished untying her hands, but it was obvious by the way she swayed that she was unlikely to stand on her own. Gently, Prowl picked her up in his arms and carried her out as he transformed outside, out of sight of the tied kidnappers. "How did you get here? Why are you even here?"

Prowl hesitated noticably, and Jordan looked at him. "I drove," he told her honestly. "And you're my partner, and I knew you were in danger, so I came after you."

The semi-accusing eye closed. "You're lying, Prowl." Her head lolled to rest against his chest, causing him to stiffen. "You have no heartbeat. Your skin is cold and you're buzzing. You can disappear and reappear whenever you like, and become solid when you feel like it. There's also a giant rip in the warehouse building, that wasn't there when they dragged me in and one that you couldn't possibly make yourself."

Prowl winced. "So you noticed that." Jordan said nothing, knowing her silence would convey more than speech could. "I was hoping you wouldn't."

A honey-golden eye stared up at him as he neared the police car. Gently, he set her down near his back tire, propping her up against the rubber wheel and sitting in front of her. "I suppose I owe you an explanation," he said, settling down. "I think you'll be fine. Scans indicate that you may have a minor concussion and cracked ribs, but when I carried you the initial scans proved to be wrong. You only have a black eye, split lip, and bad headache."

Jordan said nothing for what seemed to be an eternity, blinking her other eye. "Scans?" she echoed at last.

Prowl nodded. "It'll be long," he warned, and was combated with a irritated-Jordan frown.

"We have time."

Prowl took a deep breath that he didn't need. "I'm not human. I'm an Autobot."

* * *

**D: Once more, I am terribly sorry for the long wait. I'll get to working on the next chapter(s) right away.**


	4. Mistletoe

**:) The next chapter is up!!! (obviously) Now I'm off to a soccer game I can't play because of a broken nose. :(**

* * *

"A giant transforming robot from outer space?" to her credit, there was no note of incredulity in her voice, merely a calm weariness that made Prowl worried.

"In essence, yes," Prowl scanned Jordan to be sure she was okay.

"A tactician? No wonder you always beat me at chess." There was a loose, floaty way she said it, and Prowl realized that she needed rest. "Does Cap'n know what happened?"

Prowl shook his head. "I didn't tell him yet."

"He's prolly havin' ki'ens right 'bout now."

"Then we better go and tell him." Carefully, he lifted her up and placed her in the passenger's seat, gently buckling her in as he reappeared in the driver's seat. "Sleep, Jordan. I won't let anything happen to you." He added when she looked at him sidelong.

"Yes, I suppose sleep _is_ a good idea…" Jordan trailed off as she closed her eyes (the swollen one was half-closed already) and fell asleep.

-

When she woke up, she first thought that it was all a dream, and that she was late for her patrol. She shot up from bed and with a groan, had to flop backwards to combat the aching migraine.

"Captain gave us the week off," Prowl told her quietly from beside her bed. Jordan opened her un-swollen eye and stared at him. "Wasn't too happy about it, though. I agree with his observation that you are very danger-prone."

"You didn't tell me one thing," she paused. "More than one thing, actually."

Prowl raised an eyebrow. "What didn't I tell you?"

"A lot of things. Technical things." Prowl was silent. "You're not from Earth, yes?"

The eyebrow rose higher. "Correct."

"Then how do you know English? Why are you disguised as a police officer-slash-car?"

"When I landed I downloaded all of Earth's languages into my database and chose the one that most people spoke in the region I landed in." he said simply. "I am disguised as a 'police officer-slash-car' because it is a career similar to the one I had back on my home planet." Prowl replied. "Anything else?"

"How can you be in two places at once?"

"The form before you is what you could loosely call a 'hologram'. However, there are force fields in place that allow me to function normally, pick up and move things around and interact with real humans." Was his simple answer. "Technically, I am still me, and I merely transfer my consciousness to my holo-form."

Jordan shook her head and rubbed her temples. "Well, my life has certainly turned upside down."

"I do not see why," Prowl said with a slight frown.

Jordan shook her head. "My life's not ruined, just crazy now. I mean, my partner's a _giant alien robot from outer space_. How much weirder can it get?"

"Isn't that a bit redundant?" Jordan gave him a half-hearted glare. "I mean, usually the term 'alien' is associated with beings from outer space, and you're repeating the sentiment in her eloquent observation of what I am."

"Whatever, Mr. Logic." She paused. "Speaking of which, you haven't told me why you came after me. I mean, logically," she paused as Prowl rolled his eyes. "Or I, at leas, wouldn't have made such a… grand entrance. Finesse would've been better, really."

Prowl thought about that. True, finesse would've been better. What was he thinking? That was it: he wasn't. "I was injured in the crash, but most of it was minor. My logic center and battle computer was damaged, and it's still trying to repair itself, so I am getting these 'blank spots' where they completely shut down on me to try and reboot."

Jordan's lips twitched slightly. "You won't believe how strange that sounds." With a groan, she began to sit up. Prowl stood and helped her to her feet, staying nearby to be sure that she didn't fall. He tailed her diligently to the kitchen and watched as she made herself something to eat. "How long was I out?" she asked.

"Most of the day." Her partner replied calmly, watching as she ate. "We got home around nine in the morning, and right now it's about 7:30."

Jordan paused. "Thanks, Prowl. Really."

"Maybe you're just having a bad month," he suggested helpfully, recognizing the underlying message in her simple statement: why am I in need of so much assistance?

Jordan made a non-committal sound. "So what brings you to Earth?"

Prowl hesitated, but after he explained a bit about himself, explaining the AllSpark wars wouldn't be much of a stretch. "There's an important artifact that translated, could be called the AllSpark. It has the power to give and take life to my people, and in the wrong hands, could have devastating results. Many, many years ago, a great war started on my home planet of Cybertron. It tore my people into two factions – Autobots and Decepticons – with very few not participating and many dead. The Decepticons, I suppose you could say, are the bad guys. They want to control the AllSpark and rule the universe. They were led by a very large and powerful mech by the name of Megatron. The Autobots stood for peace – the 'good guys' of this whole mess. They are led by Optimus Prime.

"Well, according to the reports I received, the AllSpark had indeed landed on Earth, and a group of Autobots had come to retrieve it before the Decepticons could. A great battle broke out and most of the Decepticons were destroyed."

"I see." Jordan said, finishing her dinner and beginning to clean up. "There are more of you on Earth?"

"By my estimate, perhaps six, but I am not sure, as I haven't received any information updating the count."

"So…?"

Prowl frowned. He hated it when she did that. "So what?"

"Now that your big ol' secret's out, are you gonna go back to your friends?" Jordan clarified, cleaning up.

Prowl thought carefully about that. "No," he said at last. "I like it here, and according to them, a majority of the fighting is over; a tactician is hardly needed anymore. Especially in a time of peace and small skirmishes."

Jordan cast a glance at him. "So what will you do?"

Prowl frowned. "Stay with you, of course." He paused. "That is, if you want me to." He added in a more subdued tone.

Jordan looked up and gave him a small smile. "I'd like that."

-

"Jordan, is something wrong? You're spacing out on me." In her week of absence, her painful headache and a great deal of her bruising and swelling had gone, and at last Prowl and Captain allowed her to get back to work.

Jordan smiled slightly. "I'm fine, Cap'n. I was just thinking." Prowl raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment. The Captain looked suspiciously between them.

"Are you two ever gonna tell me what happened back there?" he asked at last, rubbing his nose tiredly.

Prowl looked at Jordan. He trusted her, but he also knew that she trusted Captain a great deal. Jordan's smile widened to a grin. "I dunno 'bout Prowlie, but I'm not."

The Captain's brow rose, and he looked at her. "Do I even want to know?"

Jordan chuckled. "Unlikely."

-

_Fast forward: two months_

It was amusing, she had to admit. To anyone who didn't know what was really happening, the teen looked as if she was crazy. Of course, those who really _did_ know her, knew that she really was crazy, but in a different way.

"Mei! I _hate_ that song." Pause. "No, I _don't_ want it stuck in my head; I'm trying to learn Braille!" another pause. "I _know_ you can read things for me, but I wanna learn on my own." It was quiet for about five seconds as Erin got back to work. "Yes, I don't like your reading choices. Stop stealing my mom's books!"

"Do you by chance know what they're talking about?" Jordan asked Prowl and Rewind who shrugged.

"Something entertaining for them." The little Bluetooth replied. "Aside from that, I'm not really sure." He paused, thinking. "I think there's something about reading in it, though."

Erin, hearing them, paused her studies into Braille and rolled her sightless brown-black eyes. "Mei keeps singing one of her 'favorite songs' to irritate me," pause. "She claims it's to '_entertain_' me." She rolled her eyes again. "I'm trying to learn Braille so I can read my own books, not the ones Mei reads to me which happens to be my mother's romance novels."

Arcee poked her head in. "Sorry to bother you, but we have to get going soon, Erin. Katie and Jazz are waiting."

Closing her books, Erin stood. Clucking her tongue, Arcee activated her hologram, an imitation of Erin's step-sister, and straightened Erin's clothes while the blind teen shifted impatiently. "Explain to me again why Prowl and I are going – _again_ – to another of your family's parties?"

Erin gave an innocent smile in their direction as Arcee hid a smile behind her hand. "Well, since the family reunion, my in-state family and what little are visiting have decided that they have taken a liking to you and they _insist_ that Katie brings you along." Jordan gave her a _look_ that Mei obviously told her about, as the personification of the AllSpark could see while the human couldn't, for she grinned. "And, it's Christmas! Who _doesn't_ love a Christmas party?"

There was silence and Erin rolled her eyes and Mei giggled. Arcee tugged on her arm. "Come one, Erin. We need to get going or we won't get to Auntie's _in time_." Erin and Arcee shared a laugh at something – what, Jordan and Prowl weren't sure – and with Mei controlling her body, Erin followed after her dubbed step-sister.

"I better go get changed before Katie comes and makes me." Jordan said dryly to her partner who looked at her in surprise.

"You're not wearing that?" he asked, blinking.

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately not." Grumbling to herself, she stalked off to the quarters they shared.

Only when a clawed hand dropped on his shoulder did Prowl realize that Jazz was there. Turning, he found that the silver mech was grinning slyly. "What?"

Jazz's grin widened. "Nothing, nothing." Patting his shoulder, he left to find Katie.

"They're plotting something, I just know it." Surprised once more, Prowl looked down to find his partner sulking near his foot. She was dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a red shirt with a plunging neckline, revealing a great deal of her chest as well as the Autobot medal she wore proudly.

Katie poked her head into the lounge to find Prowl staring down at his partner at his feet as she ranted on about how Katie and Jazz were plotting something. She giggled, for he didn't seem to hear her or her complaints. "Come on, guys. It's time to go."

-

The first thing Katie did when she, Jazz, and Snowy got to the party was find Erin/Mei, Rewind (who was in their ear), and Arcee who stood near the door, identical grins on their faces. At that one point in time, they nearly looked like twins.

"So? How'd it go?" Katie asked in an undertone as she hugged her cousin.

"Off without a hitch, as you humans would say," Mei replied just as quietly with a grin that threatened to split their face in half.

Arcee shook her head in amusement but nudged Erin/Mei as Jordan and Prowl walked in through the door. "We put it in the right place. Mei's idea, mostly, but there's a good chance that it'll work. If not… well, Erin and I have a backup plan."

Jazz laughed. "You three are very, very evil."

"So we've been told." Mei giggled then moved off with Arcee at her elbow to "guide" her around the party.

-

"That's the third stare in five minutes," Jordan grumbled, leaning against the wall and sipping her punch. "I wonder what they're staring at." She glared at Katie who giggled and pointed up.

"I'm not sure myself." Prowl said idly, swirling the punch around in his cup. He looked over at Jordan to find that she was staring upwards, shock evident on her face. Slowly, Prowl followed her gaze to the innocent little sprig of mistletoe that hung above them.

"Crap."

Only Jordan could be so eloquent.

* * *

**Mistletoe!! XD**


	5. Who DOESN'T like Christmas parties?

**I forgot to mention in the previous chapters Ratchet's diagnosis of Prowl's battle computer and logic center. When he had crashed, he had partially damaged it, but it was enough that his internal repair system could fix it easily enough. However, he had a nasty run-in with Barricade which left him unharmed - except for the fact that his logic center was damaged. As it wasn't life-threatening, he let it go. Without a medic, he had to make do; he balanced both his logic center and logic computer which left it at 45 percent capacity permanently. That's the reason he's acting all funny. :(**

* * *

He didn't see what the fuss was. It was merely a small sprig of Loranthaceae – commonly known as 'mistletoe' – a hemiparasitic herb with leathery evergreen leaves and white berries. Just before he closed his connection to the 'internet', Prowl paused, scrolling down the page when he caught sight of the words 'Christmas' and 'custom'. "_Mistletoes are widely used for Christmas decoration. The custom of kissing under a branch of mistletoe…"_ here, Prowl would've paled slightly at that if he could. For once, he agreed with Jordan.

Crap.

Looking down at his partner, he found that she was still staring up at the mistletoe. Catching his eye, she flushed and turned to glare at Katie and Jazz both of which were muffling their laughter. Prowl looked around for a way out – Arcee and Erin were easily keeping everyone occupied, so no one would call them over. And he didn't want Jordan to think that he didn't like her and walk away from the mistletoe – not to mention that he might be breaking taboo by not kissing his partner.

Katie and Erin's aunty emerged from the kitchen and started over, weaving through the crowd toward Katie and Jazz. Jordan caught sight of her. Kitchens. Kitchens were good – better than having to kiss Prowl! Not that Prowl was someone she didn't want to kiss. Wait. No, that wasn't right. Kissing Prowl wouldn't be as bad as having to kiss someone else… someone… uh….Starscream. Yeah. She _really_ didn't want to kiss Starscream. Prowl vs Starscream? Prowl. Definitely. Feeling her face turn from flushed to pink, she tried to think of something to occupy her thoughts away from her very handsome partner…

Stupid mistletoe. Who put it there, anyways? Casting a look at Katie and Jazz, she shook her head. They couldn't _possibly_ have done it. It must've been Arcee, Rewind, Erin, and Mei. It _had_ to be; they looked too smug.

"Hey, Auntie." Katie called cheerfully. "Did you bring any mistletoe?" Damn her and her plotting.

"No, I didn't. I couldn't find any." The older woman said ruefully.

"Well, _someone_ did," Jazz said, jerking his head at Jordan and Prowl who had yet to find the sense to move.

"Oh, how sweet." Damn. Damn. Damndamndamndamndamndamn_damn_.

"They've been standing there for ten minutes." Katie added, grin about to split her face in half. "We just told them a few minutes ago, though." She paused as if thoughtful, but Jordan and Prowl knew that she was just manipulating her voice and tone to make her aunt react in a certain way. "It's as if they don't _want_ to kiss."

"I think they're just in denial." Jazz piped up. "What about you?"

The woman smiled slightly. "Me? I'm a hopeless romantic – who do you think got Erin's mother into romance novels? I agree, judging by the looks on their faces," she added with a smirk worthy of Sideswipe the Pit-spawn himself.

'_Prowlie,'_ Jazz teased over the internal comm. _'Don't make their efforts go to waste, now. Just kiss her.'_

'_Whose efforts?'_

'_Just kiss her. Seriously, Prowl. It's obvious you two like each other, so just do it already!'_

Prowl shifted nervously. Thinking through emotions was one of his weaknesses. Jordan was another – he really _did_ care about the female officer, from her amazing honey-gold eyes to her spunky attitude. It was a good thing that Ratchet deemed his logic center to be permanently stuck at 45 percent capacity with his battle computer, or he'd have shorted out long ago. Cursed Decepticons.

Jordan, finding nothing (or no one) else to glare at without feeling awkward, she looked up at the slightly-taller Prowl, face still flushed. Likewise he was looking down at her, though a somewhat confused look on his face. "You know what being caught under the mistletoe is supposed to mean, right?" she asked softly, dreading his answer.

"Unfortunately, yes." He replied just as softly, adding a slight blush to his holoform's face.

"Then…" Jordan didn't continue. In a sense, she was just as bad as him when it came down to emotions. It was something they agreed didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Prowl was just as floored, unsure of how to continue. Just how did one approach such a predicament? _Katie didn't have to deal with this when she and Jazz had gotten together, _he thought in half-indignation_. PDA's certainly aren't my expertise_. Which was one reason he had gone to strategizing instead of something else that required him to have finesse and good people skills. That was one reason he and Jordan got along so well; neither of them had people skills. They were, in a sense, the social outcasts both for not fitting in, and by their own choice.

Mustering her courage – not that she had any shortage of courage – Jordan put her hand on his broad chest, resting her forehead where his neck met his shoulder, and where she had rested her head those times her partner had carried her. Awkwardly, Prowl wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on her head, feeling her soft hair against the field that made his "skin" lifelike. As his hands rested on her back, he felt her tense muscles and he realized that she was uncomfortable – very much so – enough that she was tense and shaking.

"I'm not scared," she whispered, almost inaudibly. "They're staring," she added almost sheepishly, and Prowl looked over to find that they were, indeed, staring. However, Katie and Jazz knew them well and seeing the way Jordan was acting, shooed the aunty off and moved away. Then they were pretty much alone – Arcee and Erin had managed to pull the other adults away from the room they occupied.

As if it had a mind of its own, his hand reached up and brushed gently along her hair, then slid down to stroke her cheek ever so gently. The unexpected motion made Jordan give a sort of small shiver and she looked up at him. To find that their faces were rather close.

What little was left of his logic center and battle computer crashed (for obvious reasons) and he was forced to function by himself for however long it took for them to reboot. May as well make the best of it. His hand pressed gently against her cheek, fingertips brushing her temples and his thumbs on her cheekbones. "You're my partner, Jordan. And so much more."

Gently with a few hesitant pauses along the way, Prowl pressed his lips first to Jordan's nose, then to her lips. His hands let go but when he moved away, Jordan grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

She clucked her tongue, blush forgotten and honey-brown eyes hazy in a way that Prowl had never seen before. "That wasn't a kiss," she whispered. "Do it right, Prowlie," Prowl forgot the hated nickname when Jordan pressed her warm lips back against his.

Surprised, Prowl rocked back, but when Jordan began to pull away, he leaned into the kiss and pulled her closer to him, arms around her back. How long they stood there like that, neither knew, but they _did_ remember the surprisingly bright flash what seemed like an eternity later.

With an unholy scream of rage, Jordan broke away and sprinted after Erin/Mei who, giggling ran away. Prowl blinked after them, a slight blush smattering his cheeks. Jazz laughed and the lovestruck tactician glared at him.

-

Curse her. The teen – though _blind_ and _sick_ for a while – was outdistancing the seasoned police officer. The _blind_ girl was beating her up the stairs which she obviously knew well, for when she peeked back at the growling Jordan, the officer noted that her eyes were brown, not silver.

Erin giggled. Eleven steps to the first landing. One step forward then three to the right. Another eleven stairs up. Two steps forward – stop! Turn left; the latch was shoulder-level and forehead-level: flick up – yank the window left. The next latch was on the right: pull the pin down and unhook the latch on the screen; one more latch then push the screen gently. The teen didn't need to see the dark mesh to know that it was open, just as she didn't need to see to know that Jordan was pounding up the stairs after her. With a giggle she opened the door nearby and slammed it shut before vaulting easily out the window whose edge was at chest-height and cradling her covered camera to her chest.

Her bare feet hit the rough roofing material beneath her but she didn't mind it, running around the corner before Jordan could figure out where she was. The woman's roar of unholy rage echoed behind her and giggling, the teen took off again, running along the edge of wall on the flat area.

'_You're fast,'_ Mei noted. _'Good endurance, too.'_

Erin smiled, pausing. _'Thanks. I used to run 300 meter hurdles so I'd need to be fast and have a relatively good endurance.'_ When she was half-blind, she had explored all of her relatives' houses and took note of how many steps to take anywhere in the house – she was too proud to allow Nicole to lead her around, no matter how well-meaning and contrite the Autobot femme was. The roofs were no exception.

"Three more steps," Rewind piped up, bouncing on her shoulder eagerly.

"I know, I know." Erin muttered to him with a slight chuckle. "Take over, Mei?"

'_Okie dokie.'_ The deity did as suggested and with a little prompting, coiled Erin's rather strong legs and leapt, catching the branch of the tree next to the house, swinging and landing easily near the trunk, the camera swinging wildly and beating against her host's chest as they settled in the tree to hide. _'You don't by chance have a backup plan, do you?'_ she asked as she spotted Jordan leaping less gracefully out of the window and charging toward them.

'_I'm working on it,'_ Pause, then. '_Split up.'_

'What?'

'_Split up.'_ The girl repeated and getting the idea, Mei surrendered control back over. The camera – nicknamed Click for her tendency to click more than talk – and Rewind sprinted off toward the house and refuge with Katie and Jazz while Erin and Mei climbed higher into the tree, settling on perching on a branch in an area of the tree where a lightweight teen could rest without worrying about an adult climbing after her and her symbiote.

"You're both as good as dead when I get to you!" Jordan roared up at them and cheekily, Erin waved back downward at her.

"You can't kill the unkillable!" she called back, howling with laughter at the infuriated growl aimed at her and the spirit of the AllSpark that rested in her.

Rubbing her head, Jordan gave up and walked in the house. She'd get the two troublemakers back eventually, but right now, she wanted to get back to Prowl. The thought cheered her and she hurried in. After all – who _didn'_t like Christmas parties?

* * *

**Horrible ending. :( **

**Sorry. **


	6. Epilogue

_A few days later…_

Humming thoughtfully to himself, the captain walked into Jordan and Prowl's office and froze.

Prowl was at the desk, writing out a report and Jordan… well, she was sitting in his lap, curled up against him fast asleep. Calmly (_when was _not_ calm?_ The captain thought wryly) Prowl looked up and raised a sandy brow. "Can I help you?" he asked quietly so as to not wake his sleeping partner.

"Actually, not really. I'll get someone else to do it."

"No, it's okay. We can do it." Prowl assured him, spinning in the chair to face him. "What do you need?"

The captain shook his head. "How long have you two been here?"

Prowl frowned, thinking. "A few hours after shift. Why?"

"Go home. It's almost new year's day. That's an order." Grumbling to himself, the captain walked out the door.

When Jordan woke up, she was in the passenger's seat with a blanket draped over her as Prowl drove up the road to their house. He parked on the small slope nearby, angling himself to get a good view of the fireworks exploding overhead. Gently he picked up his sleepy partner and sat with her on his hood.

Sleepily, Jordan moved and sat once more in his lap, curling up against his chest and resting her head on his shoulder. "Someone's sleepy," he teased gently and Jordan snorted, shifting in his lap.

"Didn't get 'nough sleep last night." She muttered drowsily.

"You aren't going to try to wait up until midnight for the new year?" Prowl asked and blearily, Jordan blinked up at him.

"What time is it?" she asked by way of reply.

"Nearly midnight."

Jordan yawned and snuggled up against him. "Okay, I'll wait up." She watched the fireworks with him then looked at her watch a moment later. "Ten seconds left," she murmured drowsily.

Prowl answered by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his chest. "Shall we count down?" he asked, lips brushing her neck.

Jordan leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder, twisting her head to kiss his cheek. "Yes. Let's."

"Five." Jordan turned around in his lap so they were facing each other. "Four." They sat there, forehead to forehead, staring into each other's eyes. "Three. Two. One." They slid their lips together right when her watch chimed to signify midnight –and the end of the old year.

--

**There. For those who wanted more romance, here ya go. **

**Sequel to 'What I've Done'? Yes? No?**


End file.
